Cornell Gets Arizona

Bids for the 1988 NCAA Basketball Tournament were announced yesterday, and there were few surprises.

There had been speculation this would be the first NCAA Tournament without an independent, but Notre Dame and DePaul both won at-large selections.

First-round play on Thursday in the East Regional at Chapel Hill, N.C., has Missouri (19-10) meeting Rhode Island (26-6) and Syracuse (25-8) meeting North Carolina A&T (26-2) and seeking to break a seven-game tournament losing streak. Also at Chapel Hill on Thursday, Southern Methodist (27-6) meets Notre Dame (20-8) and second-seeded Duke (24-6) goes against Boston University (23-7).

In the Midwest Regional on Thursday at South Bend, Ind., Purdue (27-3) meets Fairleigh Dickinson (23-6) and Baylor (23-9) duels Memphis State (19-10) going into Sunday's Metro Conference final. Also, DePaul (21-7) goes against Wichita State (20-9) and Kansas State (22-7) going into Sunday's Big Eight final, plays La Salle (24-9).

In the West Regional on Thursday at Salt Lake City, Florida (22-11) meets St. John's (17-11) and Michigan (24-7) plays Boise State (24-7). Wyoming (26-5) meets Loyola, Calif. (27-3) and second-seeded North Carolina (24-6) battles North Texas State (17-12) in the other games.

At Atlanta on Thursday in the Southeast Regional, Oklahoma (29-3) meets 16th-seeded Tennessee-Chattanooga (20-12); Auburn *** battles Bradley (26-4); Louisville (21-10) meets Oregon State (20-9) and Brigham Young (25-5) meets North Carolina-Charlotte (22-8).

All first-round starting times will be announced later.

Second-round action at all sites that begin play on Thursday will be on Saturday. Other first-round games will be held on Friday with the second round on Sunday.

Second-round winners advance to the regionals--at Pontiac, Mich., March 25-27 in the Midwest; at East Rutherford, N.J., March 24-26 in the East; at Seattle March 25-27 in the West, and at Birmingham, Ala., March 24-26 in the Southeast.

In the East on Friday, Temple (27-1), the top-ranked team in the nation, meets Lehigh (21-9) at Hartford, Conn.; Georgetown (19-9) duels Louisiana State (16-13); Georgia Tech (21-9) meets Iowa State (20-11); and Indiana (19-9) meets Richmond (24-6).

In the Midwest Regional at Lincoln, Neb., on Friday, Kansas (21-11) meets Xavier of Ohio (26-3); North Carolina State (24-7) meets Murray State (21-8); Vanderbilt (18-10) plays Utah State (21-9) and Pitt (23-6) takes on Eastern Michigan (22-7).

In the West Regional on Friday at Los Angeles, Arizona (31-2) meets Cornell (17-9); Seton Hall (21-12) plays Texas-El Paso (23-9); Iowa (22-9) battles Florida State (19-10) and Nevada-Las Vegas (27-5) plays Southwest Missouri State (22-6).

At Cincinnati on Friday in the Southeast Regional, first round action will conclude with Villanova (21-12) against Arkansas (21-8); Illinois (22-9) against Texas-San Antonio (22-8); Maryland (17-12) against Cal-Santa Barbara (22-7) and Kentucky (25-5) against Southern-Baton Rouge (24-6).

Only the Ivy League, Big Ten and Mid-Continent conferences give their automatic berths to their regular-season champions.

Four postseason finals--Big Eight, Pac-10, Southwest and Metro--had not been concluded when the committee wrapped up its work.